Time in Antarctica

At this time, Antarctica is spread around the South Pole very unevenly. Since
Antarctica is spread over all longitudes, the Time in Antarctica also different
in diffrent places. To find the current local time in Antarctica, click on
any of the station links below.

At this time in Antarctica, South pole is inside it and that means all
the time zones are included inside Antarctica. Each settlement will use the
zone time they want to follow depending on their location with respect to
the South Pole and follow their own country local time. The classic day and
night also does not happen with sun rotating around the pole causes long
nights and often sun does not set in summers around 22 December and is
visible for the full 24 hours if the weather is clear. Since the sun is
visible even at night also called MidNight Sun, DST or Daylight Saving Time
has no meaning and is not used in Antarctica except a few places like Ross
Dependency and Palmaer Land because they are supplied by Chile and New
Zealand and thus follow their own countries DST.

Area and Population at This Time in Antactica

At this time in Antarctica, the total area of teh continent Antarctica is
about 14 million square kilometers making Antarctica the fifth largest
continent in area. Antarctica is double the size of Australia. 98% of
Antarctica is coverd with ice with an average thickness of 1900 meters or
6200 feet depth. At this time in Antarctica (year 2016) there are about 135
permanent residents and over 5000 temporary residents. At this time in
Antarctica there are no indegenous human beings. It is the various countries
governments which maintain permanent manned research stations on the
continent. But historical evidences does indicate that there is a vast
continent in the far south of the globe to balance the northern lands of
Europe, Asia and North Africa. Antarctica was first sighted by Bransfield
and ten months later Palmar sighted Antarctica in November 1820.
However, the first landing on Antarctica was by American Sealer Mr John
Davis apparently at Huges Bay near Cape Charles in the Western part of
Antarctica on the 07 February 1821. But some historians dispute this and say
that it was first comfirmed by landing at Cape Adair in 1895. On 14 December
1911 a Polar Explorer Roald Amundsen from a ship called Fram became the
first man to set foot on the South Pole. But it was only on 31 October 1956
when a second human being set food on the South Pole.

Time of Signing Antarctic Treaty

At this time in Antarctica there is no native human population or
government. So at that time it was felt necessary to have a treaty that will
regulate the countries who have laid claims on the continent to ensure that
Antartica is available for all human beings in all countries at all time.
Towards a Treaty was signed in 1961 with 12 countries. At this time in
Antartica the Treaty has been signed by about 53 countries. For the purposes
of defining the continent of Antartica in the treaty, Antartica is defined
as all the land and ice shelves which falls south of the 60 deg South
latitude. The Treaty has ensured that Antarctica is set aside as a
scientific preserve with freedom of scientific investigations and bans
militar activity in Antarctica. The Antarctic treaty was the first arms
control agreement established during the Cold War. At this time the
Antartctic Treaty Secretariate Headquarters is located in Buesnos Aires
which is the capital of Argentina starting from the year 2004.

Climate at this Time in Antarctica

At this time in Antarctica the climate is the coldest, the driest and the
Windiest of all the continents on earth with the highest elevation as well.
Antarctica is actually a desert and receives less than 20 cm rain in one
year. The average temperatures in Antarctica has recorded below -89 degree C
or -128 deg F. Normally the coldest temperatures hover around -63 deg C or
-81 deg F.

Government at this Time in Antarctica

Antarctica does not have any integral population. Each government who has
setup their settlements in various parts of Antarctica for various research
and studies in Antarctica, have laid claims to their territory. Often many
of these claims are overlapping one another and causing friction among the
participating governments of various countries. Since there are no
indegenous population at this time in Antarctica, even in the Olympics Flag
has no ring representing the continent of Antarctica. So on the pages
refering to Antarctica on our website, we gave a slight off white background
to represent the ice which is white in colour, so that the user is aware
that he is viewing Time in Antactica.

Why Named Antarctica?

The Name Antarctica actually means the opposite of North because
Antractica is in the south pole of the earth. Antarctica the name came in asthe romanized compound Greek word pronounced as
antarktike which is the feminine of antarktikos which means opposite of
north. We can find the name Antarctic region written by Aristotle in his
book on Meteorology he wrote in 350 BC. It can also be seen in the
unpreserved world map of the second century AD prepared by Marinus of Tyre
also where the South Pole is called the Greek romanized name Polus
Antarcticus.